Revival
by One More Guy
Summary: What if nobody actually died in SAO? This story follows Kirito on the 27th floor, where he fought and acquired the revival item, until... [One-shot]


**Author's Note:** So, after a lot of searching (accidentally clicking on a file) I dug up this one-shot I'd written 3-4 months ago. I felt I should rewrite it, since the current version is, when compared to what I can write now, 1/5 in quality. I went ahead and read it, only to find myself confused at who's who. Why not rewrite it then? Hopefully you enjoy it.

 **Disclaimer:** There's swearing in this fic, viewer disce-discru... Whatever, if you don't like swearing, I suggest you press Ctrl + W.

* * *

 **Floor #35, the Forest of Wandering. Time: 3 AM**

 _Where the hell is this boss going to spawn at?_ Kirito had been running around for a few hours now, looking at the store-bought map of this dungeon for the fir tree where Nicholas was supposed to spawn. He could make neither head nor tail of his whereabouts. The sole thing Kirito had managed to confirm is that he's close.

He soon arrived to another teleport spot, moving one step closer to his goal. However, he was soon met with 6 people who tried to stop him. It was none other than Klein and his guild, Fuurinkazan.

"What are you doing here kid? It's really dangerous for a solo player to be in a dungeon without any form of backup." The ginger-haired man inquired with a questioning look.

"You know exactly what I'm here for." Kirito spat annoyed. "Now, let me pass."

"Not really, except that you are trying to get the revival item. I bought all of the information available from NPCs and I am sure you did the same, right? After all, a Flag Mob that appears once a year would be the target of many." Klein said, seemingly unaware of Kirito's impatience and with a smirk.

"Of course I did. Why do you think I'm in the middle of this fucking twisted labyrinth and don't look like I'm a lost cause? Move your ass, I really need to go." The solo player made his anger even more evident, the man in front of him still feigning ignorance.

"I don't think I can let you do that, Kirito-kun." Klein looked at him with a sad expression, trying to get closer to the boy without him backing off. He, however, looked at him straight in the eyes, his own angrily looking at his "friend".

"And why is that, Klein? For what "noble" reason will you tell me to stop trying to get the item? What stupid line will you throw at me in order to convince me not to go? I'm needed in the frontline or something like that?" Klein frowned ever so slightly, but it was enough for the cunning swordsman to notice.

"You know that I will go after the boss, no matter what you say. Plus, I won't need any help. I grinded up to level 70 for that exact reason. Please, for your own good, step aside. I don't wish to fight any of you."

Klein saw the flaming determination in his steely eyes. Now it was certain he wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise, so he went with the emotional route. "I wouldn't be able to take it if you died from such a stupid move as this." The leader of Fuurinkazan said, faking stifling a tear.

"You know full well this is not going to work, the system does not allow you to hold back any kind of emotion, no matter how hard you try. Stop pretending, will you?"

"You're sharper than you make yourself to look, kid. Well, here's a deal. We can all go fight the boss, and whoever grabs the item first, he gets to keep it. How does that sound?" Klein made a last, desperate attempt to stop his friend from going. Such a move could only enrage Kirito, which it did.

"Are you pulling my fucking leg, Klein?! Why would I risk losing the most precious item in the game to one of your clowns back there?!"

"Because you can't do it alone. I want to know, why you're so frantic about getting the revival item anyways? You can't use it on yourself when you die, it's pointless!" Now, both of them were angry, for radically different a reason. The katana user was expecting his friend to scream bloody murder, but it was the only thing you couldn't say about his reaction.

"Even if there's a slight chance...a tiny one, I'll fight for it. Heck, we don't even know if anyone is actually dead. If there's such a thing, why shouldn't I go after it? I don't give a crap even if it's a longshot. If it can bring her back, I'm offering my life for it. Her..." This sudden change of attitude gave Klein enough space to react.

"Stop spewing bullshit, kid! You said it yourself; it's a longshot! A shot in the dark! It is really worth to go and fucking kill yourself for a rumor that we haven't and cannot possibly confirm? I don't know who "her" you're referring to is, but I honestly don't care! Be rational for once!" He tried to reason with him, surprisingly not teasing him for doing it for a girl.

"I'll do it, I don't care what you have to say." _Even if I die, it'll be well deserved._ He was set in doing everything he could to save Sachi, at least her.

He loathed himself for what he did to the Black Cats. He could've easily told them that they had entered a dungeon where the loot was plentiful, but filled with traps as well. He could've prevented the deaths of those four people. No, five. If only he had told them his real level back then. If only he had mentioned that it was an alarm trap protected with an Anti-Crystal zone. If only he wasn't a coward. If only...

"..." Klein clenched his fists, stopping himself from saying anything else to the boy.

"How did you know I was here in the first place anyways?" Asked Kirito,

"I followed you, duh. You should learn how to cover your tracks. It was easy to find where you went when we could follow those footprints of yours. That and one of those "clowns" has the "Tracking" skill unlocked."

Kirito was about to answer, but was cut short by 30 somewhat people appearing, all from the Holy Dragon Alliance.

"Did you say anything about covering tracks, Klein?" The man in question looked up, whistling a tone to give himself time to think.

"Hahahaaa. About that..." An awkward smile was drawn on his face, coupled with a laugh in a similar style, after being rendered unable to reply.

Those people from the HDD were the second strongest guild in the game. They would do anything they could to obtain rare items; becoming orange just to get the Fuurinkazan and Kirito out of the way was included as well and wasn't even considered a big deal. They had one extra reason with the revival item at stake, after all.

The leader of the Fuurinkazan pulled his katana out of its sheath and took a defensive stance. To Kirito's surprise, the man pushed him away.

"We can hold them off, go!" The black swordsman pulled out his sword and pointed it at the attackers. He then looked at Klein.

"Are you-" The boy asked, only to be yelled at.

"I SAID GO!"

The boy broke off to a sprint, heading for the gigantic fir tree. It took him a few minutes to reach it, just as a red sleigh spawned, carrying a huge creature wearing a Santa outfit. It sported a huge sack on his back, possibly carrying a ton of loot.

 _So here you are._ He cracked his knuckles, prepared to face the boss.

* * *

 **30 minutes later**

Slash. "Raaaaaargh!" Nicholas the Regenerade roared. Soon after, this zombie-like parody of Santa Claus started fading, finally shattering into blue polygons. The huge sack he was holding had fallen into the ground after the fight. Inside, Kirito found many powerful swords, metals and a ton of Col. However, this wasn't what he was looking for.

 _Come on, where is it?_ He put every item worth salvaging in his inventory, slowly filling it up. Though, the revival item was nowhere to be seen. The bag was almost empty when, thankfully, the boy finally found the item.

 _Here it is..._ The item was clearly there, lying at the deepest parts of the loot bag, ready for anyone to grab it. It was a blue pearl that, when exposed to any sort of lighting, it would emit a beautiful blue-white color. Despite its fancy and imposing appearance, it fit his palm perfectly.

Doubt still existed in his heart. What if it didn't work? What if Kayaba lied about the Nerve Gear frying the slain players' minds?

 _It will work. I'm sure it will...it has to._ Kirito extended his hand to grab it. And so he did. Picking it up from the ground, he opened the description of the item.

" **Divine Stone of Returning Soul" Unique Item**

" _ **Upon usage, it can revive any dead player, as long as the user is 5 meters from the deceased player's death spot. To activate, use the following phrase: "Revive Player: PlayerName ." One-time use item."**_

Kirito, overwhelmed from happiness, had a gigantic smile on his face. Adding to that, he was crying tears of joy. "Yes...YES! I can finally...bring her back!" Finally tell her how much he had fallen head over heels for her, but didn't find the right time to confess. There was hope after all. Players didn't actually die!

Although, a problem stood in his way. Even if he did revive Sachi, what would the consequences of his actions be? What would she say after all he did? She would be forced to stay alive all the while her friends were trapped in this trance she was for who knows how long. The spear user was sure to hate him. His action was purely selfish, something he wanted to do to feel just a little better for the massacre he had caused. Though, he was too occupied with being happy he could save her now, thus he didn't even gave it a second thought.

Deciding he would go and revive Sachi now, before it gets _dark_ , he swiped his right index finger downwards and opened the "Inventory" tab. The boy went to store the crystal-like ball, when it was suddenly snatched from his hand.

"Hehehe...is this the item everyone keeps blabbing about?" A...creature ran past Kirito, skillfully removing the ball from his hands. Holding the item, he hovered his hand over it, double tapping the immediate area over it, which opened the description.

"HEY! Give it back!" Kirito yelled on the top of his lungs. To suddenly have all of his hopes and dreams crushed because of a thief...

The boy furiously charged at the stranger, only for him to become black smoke. That thing had covered 10 meters in an instant using some kind of crazy teleportation ability.

"Fufufu...Do you really think I'll return you something so expensive and, on top of it, unique?" They smirked, taunting the black-haired one. The black-robed person...just who the heck was he? His face was covered by a piece of cloth similarly colored. Even the hands were totally covered, only for a one-handed sword, silver in colour, to contrast with the rest of the outfit. That stranger gave of a chilling vibe, sending a chill through Kirito's spine.

"I said, give it to me!" Again, the swordsman charged, for the same exact smoke appearing in place of him.

This time, the figure had teleported just behind Kirito and whispered: "I could sell this for a lot of money. What do you say, boy? Hehehehe." Everything about this guy pissed the black haired boy off. His smile, his attitude, every single speck of what this thing was.

"Why are you doing this?!" To his surprise, the player didn't seem to care that much.

"Answer me!" The boy, understandably angry, tried to attack the stranger for the third time.

"Hmm...I wonder, when will you understand that attacking me is pointless? You're just too slow. Mhmmmm." That condescending sound they made was enough to trigger Kirito.

"Go to hell, you fucking piece of shit!" It was obvious he didn't control his actions anymore. Rage had taken over his mind.

"You're a rather...interesting individual. You seem strong. Almost too strong. I've heard many stories about you, how you relentlessly fought away hordes and hordes of enemies without breaking a sweat. I didn't expect you to break so easily, however. Everyone I asked called you "the calmest person I've ever seen". It seems those rumors were just mere gossip. Grown-up? Reserved? All I see now is puberty. I'd love to just kill you on the spot, but I don't want to become a Red. What do you say? Duel me, and I'll return you this thing." they said, extending their hand holding the crystal. "If you defeat me, that is."

The figure manipulated their screen with nimble moves and shortly after, a Duel Invite appeared in front of Kazuto.

Taking a few seconds to recollect himself, the black-clad boy looked at them, now with a calmer expression. "And what if I lose?"

The stranger laughed, looking at the boy. "I'll decide after I crush you, slowly and painfully."

"Save your crap for the end of the duel." Taunting him, he pushed the accept button. The timer appeared, displaying 60 seconds.

"It's first to 10% HP. I took the liberty to heal myself before this. I suggest you do the same."

"I like the way you think...you may use whatever technique and consumable you want. I'll make do with my sword."

"I'll make you eat your words." The stranger didn't flinch at his attempt to scare. Instead, he pointed his sword at him, saying nothing in return.

3...not much time remained for the start of this duel.

2...but to Kirito, it was like centuries. Every millisecond he wasn't walking towards the dungeon of the 27th floor, he felt a thorn puncture his heart. He knew he had to win. He understood that, if he lost, his hopes of ever seeing Sachi again were practically non-existent.

1...The black-haired boy tightened his grip on the black sword, preparing to strike. He must win this duel.

The duel began. Waiting for nothing, the figure blinked in front of his opponent, forcing him to block the attack the former had prepared. As a result, Kirito lost his balance, which he managed to regain shortly after. The attacker didn't stop at one strike. They charged a Sword Skill called "Rage Spike", doing about 4% damage to Kirito's HP.

Before the robed man could execute another attack, the boy counterattacked with a "Slant" followed by a "Vertical Arc", lowering the stranger's health to 87%.

"Hehe...show me more of your strength boy..." As the cloaked on spoke, a slash sound came from behind the swordsman. This outlandishly strong (but for some reason ill-equipped in terms of armor) creature had blinked behind him and performed "Sharp Nail", an attack that begins with an up-right to bottom-left, followed by a left-to-right slash and finishing up with a strike same as the second, only difference between those two was that the latter started from the right and cut to the left.

Normally, such a skill would not do much damage. In this case, however, it left the opponent, Kirito, with 54% HP. On top of that, it left a poison effect that lasted for 2 minutes, ticking for around 1% of his HP every 4 seconds.

"What the hell is this? How do you even do so much goddamn damage? My armor is made out extremely rare material, it was supposed to *cough* protect from such swords as that measly rapier of yours...how did it fail?"

Looking at him with a condescending smile, he replied.

"That is a rather simple question...with a just as easy answer. You see, my rapier is special. I had it custom-made from a blacksmith at floor 39. She had mistakenly used a mix of ingots instead of just steel, so it was granted a special trait, called Armor Penetration. Whenever I strike someone that wears armor (about everyone smart enough to have some equipped), it shreds through the durability and ignores about 90% of the protection given. Cool, right? Especially when you consider that I will destroy you with it...teehee."

 _So that's what he meant he'll kill me instantly. What a fearsome opponent. Nobody's perfect though, there has to be a way to strike him down._ The boy let his cocky opponent talk, gaining time and devising a plan. _...Yeah, that might do the trick._

"What are you waiting for? Come at me! If you can actually do something, that is." The player charged yet another "Sharp Nail", ready to finish off the boy. Kirito, knowing he would attack from behind by blinking to him, he prepared "Vorpal Strike" and feinted a charge.

"Didn't I tell you this doesn't work? You're too slow for me and my attacks. Hahahaha..."

The swordsman, tracing the obvious taunt, he continued to run their way. As he expected, the figure blinked right behind them.

"Got you! Teehee."

"Think again, you idiot."

Not before he could finish his snarky response, he made an 180 turn and successfully hit his opponent in the chest, making their health bar turn yellow.

"You piece of crap...I'll make you suffer for that!"

"Suck it up and lose already..."

The black-robed challenger backed off, knowing he would lose if he tried a direct exchange of blows. Kirito had a very high attack speed, so he would be able to parry any kind of hit.

Kirito, on the other hand couldn't allow him to get too far due to his teleporting powers. If he attempted to chase his enemy, he'd simply teleport behind him and land a hit easily. He had to approach slowly, or else he'd just lose in one hit.

His opponent pointed his rapier at Kirito's head, taunting him. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Don't you want to go save your girlfriend?"

The black-clad boy froze. How the hell did he know-

 _Hehehe, I just knew you'd take the bait. You simple-minded pile of angst._ The green player grinned under the disguise of the robe so Kirito couldn't see him.

The robed man instantly teleported to the left of Kirito, who was surprised by his taunt. Or so he thought.

"Got you." The boy parried the blow, sparks flying off in many directions an he did so. Using the momentum he had acquired from the skillful parry he had executed, the boy slashed the robed man's right hand off, rendering him unable to use his sword and lowering his HP down to 20%.

"Game over, thief. Hand over the item." Kirito's eyes were burning holes in his close to being defeated opponent.

"I haven't lost...yet..." he suddenly said, teleporting about 5 meters away. Seeing that, the swordsman charged towards him, almost blinking and stabbed him with Elucidator.

"Now you did. Hand over the revival item or else..."

The figure laughed as he pulled a healing crystal out and used it. " You really are powerful kid, I severely underestimated you. Have fun...for the little it's going to last...hahaha..."

He instantly vanished, the Divine Stone of Returning Soul now sitting in place of where the robed one once was. Kirito smiled and reached for the stone. _Time to get out of_ _here...and save Sachi._

* * *

 **Floor #27, inside the Dungeon's floor..**

Kirito arrived at the Alarm Trap's entrance, the place where four people had died.

He raised his hand upwards. "Revive player: Sachi!" he chanted, the item in his hand breaking down into polygons.

And so the deed was done. Slowly materializing was the form of the bespectacled girl, the very polygons that had burst and disappeared slowly came back together and created her avatar.

"Sachi!" Kirito shouted with tears in his eyes, moved from seeing her coming back to life. She was alive again!

The girl let out a suprised "Ehh?!" when her eyes met the the crying form of Kirito running towards her.

"You're back...you're back!" The last hugged her tightly, almost squeezing her in his grasp.

"What do you mean I'm back?" Sachi looked at Kirito, confused and puzzled by whatever was happening.

"I revived you! You're not dead anymore!" He said, unable to contain the surge of happy emotions.

"What? I died?!" She asked, startling the boy. Hadn't she realised she was killed by a monster in here? Had her memory gotten erased somehow? Or did she just forget? All the happiness was drained out of him in one single moment, replaced by the cruhsing guilt Kirito felt for blatantly lying to the Black Cats in fear of something as ridiculous as rejection which was plainly unbearable. And the lies where what for? The boy had, bluntly put, indirectly caused their death. He broke their embrace, untying his hands from the recently revived girl. Kirito couldn't look at her in the eyes anymore and walked backwards. If his theory was correct, she didn't remember how she died. And that extended to what had happened just seconds ago before that. As a result, he had to break the news to her. How her friends were dead and she wasn't. Come to think of it, wasn't this whole scenario selfish and hurtful to both of them? She had to live without her friends.

"..." Utter silence. "Kirito-kun, what's wrong?" She got no response. But you couldn't blame him for that. He had just realised how foolish a mistake this was. The girl loved her friends more than anything else. Knowing they were in a trance, risking death every second, she would hate Kirito if she hadn't already when she died. Her final words...he never heard them, but he was sure they were cursing him. _"Liar. Murderer. Beater."_ He was that and more. Along with everything else, he was now selfish as well.

"You were killed by a monster trap. Many things spawned and you were alone in there. Shortly after, all the mobs disappeared along with you...everyone mourned your death and refused to continue playing." The swordsman had straight up lied in Sachi's face. Why shouldn't he? He had done it already, there was no escaping it. The only thing he had to do was say another white lie. It was for the good of his consience and hers.

"Well, I'm alive now! Let's go and tell them you revived me!" Kirito froze in shock. His mouth was open, but no words came out of it. He felt his throat hurt immensly at the sight of the happy Sachi. The thought that the smile in her face was so fragile made him want to punch himself. The boy was trying to create a veil of lies to decieve the girl he had mercilessly murdered a while back.

"There's a small problem with that...I don't know where they are right now. The guys...deleted me from their friends list...after I told them I was a beta tester." Sachi was dumbfounded by Kirito's words. "Keita called me a filthy Beater. The others followed and...they deleted me. Sasamaru was pissed at me, telling me to fuck off and die like the murderer I am. He is right, isn't he? I got you killed because I had lied about my level back then. I wasn't 20 as I had told you, but 41. Which meant I had farmed up in the dungeons on the frontline, which was on floor 32 at the time. 27 was a breeze for me and I foolishly thought I could protect you..."His eyes teared up.

Sachi, on the other hand, hugged him. "It's okay now, I'm not dead." Kirito felt horrible after he heard that.

"By the way, there is something we can do to find them!" The boy stared at her. He didn't want her to find out the bitter truth.

"They only deleted you from their friends list, not me! So, I can just take a look and-" He grabbed her hand and moved it away from the menu. "I-I don't think that'll work at all!" Kirito nervously laughed. He was on his last legs right now. Even the attempt to lie at her was about to fail.

"Why not? Their names should be there, they never had a chance to delete me in the first place." The girl shaked off the swordsman's hand, only to grab it again."Pl-please, that's not going to work. Leave it alone and let's leave this place, okay?" Sachi looked at him annoyed.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you? Stop it! I just want to loo-" Her non-dominant hand managed to reach the friends tab in time for it to open. The face she made when she saw the list was one of questioning, and then of fear.

 **Online Players**

 **\- Kirito**

The boy released her hand, knowing it was over. Sachi would soon find out the truth.

"Where are they? They should be here, but they're not." Her friends were still dead. Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Keita, all of them. They were dead. But Sachi didn't know that beforehand.

"Ki...rito?" The girl was left speechless. She was alone now, nobody else of her guild remained. Kirito's face turned pale. He had nothing to say to the girl. In the end, it was his fault for letting them all die. He could've informed the group that he had come here and cleared the dungeon when he was in the frontlines. That, however, would lead to them finding out he was a beta tester; a Beater.

"Where are my friends, Kirito?! Why aren't they on my list?!" Sachi screamed, angry at the boy who had just revived her.

"They..." She looked at him when he stopped mid sentence, furious at the developments. "Why were you trying to cover this up? What's the reason for not wanting me to-" The spear user saw through the lies. "They...are dead, aren't they? Why..." Kirito could only keep his head lowered down, in wait for a powerful slap. It never came.

"Why did you revive me when all of my friends are dead?! Huh?!" Silence then filled the room. "Fuck you, Kirito." The girl bolted out of the room. The boy never bothered to chase her, he knew what she was going to do. A sound of polygons exploding shortly after confirmed his suspicions.

"Didn't I tell you it wasn't going to last, Kirito?" Suddenly, the robed opponent from earlier had come here, standing in front of the entrance to the trap.

"..." He said nothing in return.

"It's time to leave, boy." The robed figure said.

"What do you mean?" The boy inquired silently. All of this...just to end up dead inside again, feeling guilty for wasting the item for something as selfish and stupid as this in addition to all of the previous things. And now he was going...where exactly?

"Can't you hear it? The alarm clock, Kirito. It's time to go grind...in the real world."

Then, a really familiar noise sounded in the boy's ears.

 ***Beep* *Beep* *Beep***

"What the..." Everything around him cracked, breaking apart seconds after until only white filled the boy's vision.

"Sachi..."

* * *

 **Floor #50, Algade, Kirito's bedroom. Time: 4 AM**

"...SACHI!"

Tossing himself up, he opened his eyes. He was crying again, dreaming of the girl that he had killed because he was a coward. Twice.

"I'm sorry..."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Surprised? Well, I sure was when I came up with the idea as well. Also, did you notice what the timestamp said? "3 AM". It wouldn't fit if I wrote a "before it gets dark", since it's already night time, right? That is because I was referring to the world outside the dream. Plus, I know it's impossible for the players to dream. However, if I had gone with that, nothing of the above would have ever happened.

The reason I created this fic is because I wanted to show why it's best that Sachi remained dead in canon. To anyone that hoped she was really revived, you can clearly see what the result would be after reading this. I know it's over the top, but it's realistic in a sense. If you suddenly were revived by a liar that had killed your friends and had tried to cover it up, wouldn't you hate him? Consequences...

 **EDIT:** Cleaned up the Sachi scene and extended it a bit. And by a bit, I mean 1000 words that made this story 20 times more dramatic that it should've been.

PS: Anything that has to do with Reality's sword is totally made up. I don't even know if it's possible to make/enchant a sword with Armor Penetration. Oh well, it worked anyways.


End file.
